[basil]

I love it, myself. People who have actually worked in the real world have much to teach, I should think. Besides, they may not have been steeped in all the political correctness that is pounded into the heads of education majors.

[Fenris6]

Will be very interesting to see how college kids handle the PCBS of the Teachers Unions et al.

[rottndog]

First step in being "credentialed" in California is to take the CBEST Test. This tests COLLEGE GRADUATES at a 10th grade reading level. Best thing to do for public education is to ban teacher tenure, ban teacher's unions, and shutdown teacher's colleges.

[secret garden]

They claimed they wanted to do this about 18 years ago but then would only allow minority applicants to teach.

[GeronL]

BUT BUT BUT,, these teachers have not yet been indoctrinated with the communist GOALS 2000 agenda!!

[El Gato]

I'm not sure how great an idea this really is. I'm sure everyone who's attended college, especially the larger schools, have had teachers or "grad assitents" who knew their subject matter quite well, but couldn't teach it worth a darn.

The US military sends virtually all of it's instructors to special training, some fairly short, others not so short, before they let them teach. Even the DI's/TI's go to instructor school before they let them put on the Smokey the bear hat.

Fact is, in Texas, you cannot get an undergraduate degree in teaching. You get a degree in something else, with a "minor" in teaching, which consists mostly in "how to teach", although for math, especially elementary math, they end up teaching a fair amount of subject matter as well. Texas already has alternative certification, that at least gets the prospective teacher some training in teaching, usually the summer before they start, and then continuing in "summer school" and "night school". The husband of a friend/coworker of my wife just finished such a program, although he did take quite a few of the required courses before getting into the program, so that he wasn't limited to the districts that sponsor the alternative certification.

The biggest problems in education today are the result of over politicization and bureaucratization. Time was when the only "higher authority" than the school district superintendent was a county school superintendent, and then only for the really small districts, the larger "independent" ones did not answer to the country superintendent. Then the states got involved, and now the federal department of education. All those upper levels of management require paperwork, which comes down on the teachers, taking up time they should be spending with the kids or planing.

[q_an_a]

about three years ago a teacher was at a party and talking with a group of people when, annual reviews became the topic. The teacher was amazed to learn that most people in the private sector have to face a review once or twice a year. When asked how often in his 15 year career he had had a review his answer was "Never". This is an example of how out of touch with the "real world" our education system can be in some of it's programs.

[TaxRelief]

If the "real" teachers don't like it, they should leave.